Archive for the ‘Announcements’ Category

Our very own Eddie Law, the founder and managing director of eLawyer, has done us proud by emerging as one of the winners of Anglia Ruskin University Vice Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Award in the United Kingdom late last year. The awards were conferred to selected graduates of the university who have gone on to excel in their respective fields after leaving the university, particularly when their study at the university have significantly played a role in their professional success thereafter.

All the award winners

The Anglia Ruskin University Vice Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Awards were divided into 5 categories, namely Alumni Service to Society Award, Alumni Contribution to Culture Award, Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Young Alumni of the Year Award, and Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award.

Eddie Law was selected as a runner-up for the Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year award. This award was intended to honour and celebrate those who have made a difference by contributing to a local, national or international community through the creation of or significant involvement in a successful and meaningful business venture. The judging criteria for this award include the display of outstanding leadership and administrative skills in an entrepreneurial area, and evident track record of taking calculated risks or pursuing innovative approaches, which have brought positive impact to the business venture.

Among more than the ten winners who were honoured and celebrated for the day, Eddie was the only Asian. It was truly a proud moment for this Sitiawan-born humble and hardworking man, who in 2007 left legal practice and took a leap of faith to set up a first-of-its-kind online legal portal in Malaysia. Now a leading figure in the legal recruitment industry, Eddie has gone a long way since he first started out as an entrepreneur, with this award being the latest addition to a long list of achievements under his belt. Eddie now continues to inspire others by actively blogging and speaking on various platforms on legal career paths and personal growth. Winning this award, being a tangible recognition for his hard work and dedication, is indeed both meaningful and memorable for him.

The university’s inaugural alumni awards ceremony, held on 7 December 2016, was a glitzy and convivial affair. The Vice Chancellor, Professor Iain Martin, did the honours and presented the awards to the jubilant winners. It was definitely a momentous and happy night for Eddie and we certainly cannot be prouder of him. May eLawyer continue to grow and soar to even greater heights.

One of the weaknesses of our Court’s efiling system is the online file search system. A user has to pay RM12 (for High Court and above) or RM6 (for Subordinate Courts) to be able to do an online file search for a maximum period of 30 minutes. The time runs upon opening a file on the website (at main page, under Public Services menu).

However, one cannot download a file from the website but one can only view it. The viewing function allows one to view one page at a time and also print one page at a time. Each page takes some time to load and 30 minutes is not sufficient.

This is baffling. Why can’t they put a function to allow users to download the entire file? This is what you get when you roll out a system without proper consultation with the end users.

In any event, to overcome this problem, I found a solution. Here are the steps:-

1. Download the free software PDF24 and install it on your PC.
2. Open the file you intend to download on the Online File Search System (login to the system first).

3. Choose PDF24 as the printer.

4. Every page will be printed as a separate file on PDF24. To merge them, click on the Merge button on top. All the pages will be merged into one file!

As per the previous year, click here and here for the Legal Career Forum 2014, eLawyer Recruitment is proud to be in the collaboration with the KL Bar to bring you the yearly KL Bar – eLawyer Legal Career Forum.

This year our theme is:

Working in different sized law firms: Large? Mid? Small?

To be employed? Or self-employed?: Are you ready?

This Forum is intended to benefit members of the Bar, pupils, students and law firms by sharing views of legal practitioners having worked in different organizational structures of legal firms to share their work experience and different expectations of each firm structure including setting up their own legal firms.

In respect of choosing the suitable size of law firm to work for, this Forum is expected to give insight and clarity to students, pupil and young lawyers on the working experience and conditions in large, medium and small firms. This will give an opportunity for them to decide where they are better suited to work. Attendees will have a better understanding of the workings and demands of different sized legal firms and will be able to make an informed decision on employment.

In respect of to be employed or self-employed, this Forum will also include a discussion on the difference of being self-employed and being in employment. The discussions will cover questions on when is a lawyer ready to set up legal practice on his/her own and the challenges that may be faced by them.

Mathew Thomas Philip has over 20 years of experience in handling complex and contentious civil and commercial litigation. He has counselled and represented domestic and international clients and has successfully negotiated over 300 settlements during his career. Mathew regularly advises MNCs and SMEs on litigation risk and represents them in negotiations and execution of strategy. He commenced pupillage at Messrs Raja, Darryl and Loh in 1991 and continued practice with them as a Legal Assistant for the next 6 years. In 1997, Mathew became a Partner at Messrs Thomas Philip, Kwa & Lou and in the year 2004, he found Messrs Thomas Philip and has been the Managing Partner since.

Vasanthi Rasathurai

Vasanthi Rasathurai has over 10 years of litigation experience in civil and commercial law which includes all areas of contract, tort, conveyancing, company, media, land, local government, defamation and intellectual property. She has worked in different sized firms over the years and is currently practising as a Partner with Messrs Vin Partnership. She commenced legal practice at Messrs Shafee & Co. After 3 years, she pursued the Masters in Law in London. Upon completion, she returned to Malaysia and commenced practice with Messrs Shearn Delamore where she specialized in intellectual property for 3 years. Later, she joined Messrs Zaid Ibrahim & Co before returning to Messrs Shafee & Co. In 2011, she founded Messrs Vasanthi Rasa & Associated and was its principle for more than 3 years before joining the current firm

Eddie Law

Eddie Law is the founder and Managing Director of eLawyer.com.my (he was called to the Bar in 2003). He has both private practice and in-house experience before he ventured into legal recruitment 7 years ago. His clients include law firms (both local and international) and corporations. In 2015, Eddie was named by the Asia Law Portal as the Top 30 People to Watch in the Business of Law in Asia in. Further on October 2015, Eddie was described by Malaysian SME newspaper as a person who set the bench mark of legal recruitment industry in Malaysia. Eddie is passionate and generous about sharing his thoughts and experience on legal career related issues with young an potential lawyers, giving insight views of the career path of a lawyer, inspiring lawyers to excel in their profession, harness their leadership skills and personal growth.

Moderation: Choo Dee Wei, a partner at Messrs C.K. Hau & Co. He commenced practice in April 2007 in Messrs Skrine. In 2009, he joined Messrs Lee Hishamuddin Allen & Gledhill. In April 2014, he joined Messrs C.K. Hau & Co as partner. He is the Chairperson of the KL Bar Young Lawyers Committee for term 2015/2016 as well as for term 2014/2015.

The registration fee for this Forum is RM 10.00 per participant.

Light lunch refreshments will be served.

Limited seats available. Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Please make payment by 9 December 2015 (Wednesday). Click here for the registration form.

METHOD OF PAYMENT:

Payment is to be made at any Maybank via bank transfer, cash or cheque

Name of Account: Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee

Account No: 564315003715

Fax the bank in slip to 603-20321090 together with the Registration form.

NOTE:

Registration is strictly on a first-come, first-served basis.

Confirmation is upon receipt of payment.

The Organisers reserve the right to postpone or cancel the event, should any circumstances arise that make such action necessary

Fee paid is non-refundable unless the Event is cancelled by the Organisers. If a participant is unable to attend, a replacement participant is allowed.

Should you have any queries, please email Rajan (rajan@klbar.org.my) at the KL Bar Secretariat or call 03-20321440.

We are pleased to share with you the interview of our founder of eLawyer, Eddie Law, by the prominent Malaysia SME newspaper on 2 October 2015. We reproduced the below interview for your reading pleasure.

Eddie Law is a lawyer. He founded and runs eLawyer, a leading internet based recruitment service for the Malaysian legal fraternity. “Friends say that since I was born a Law, it’s in my blood!” he jokes.

Named by Asia Law Portal as one of the top-thirty most important people in legal circles in the Asia-Pacific, Law, 38, specialises in hiring and placing students, legal secretaries, lawyers, legal managers, partners and legal counsel.

“Our recruitment consultants are lawyers by training, and therefore we understand our clients’ expectations,” he explained. His client base comprises sole-proprietor firms, partnerships and large local and foreign law firms.

After initially practising as a lawyer, Law worked for an IT group as legal advisor before venturing out on his own. He stumbled upon the idea of legal recruitment quite by chance.

“I started a law portal, but the recruitment aspect of it worked out best. So I got all the required licences and worked towards making it big.”

Select and manage

Asked what he would consider the single most important ingredient to being a successful entrepreneur, he replied without hesitation, “The ability to select and manage the right people.”

A young man from Setiawan, Perak, he studies in Chinese primary and secondary schools in the town, after which he had a choice of either taking over his father’s small restaurant or going to university.

“I did not relish the thought of being a chef, so I went to university. Despite not being top of the class at school, I surprised myself with a Second Class Upper,” he recalled with a glint of pride. He studied at UK’s Anglia Ruskin University, and is today their official Alumni Ambassador for Malaysia.

After graduation, his self-confidence soared, and he moved on to bigger things.

“I always tell young lawyers that persistency is a key factor, but so are execution and passion. If you are passionate in what you do, you will do it well and persistently. But the foundation of it all is humility. Without humility, you stop learning and growing.”

His firm currently offers job adverts, resume searches and placement services. Its job advertisement service displays job vacancies online, attracting 500,000 hits every month. Email job updates are received by 7500 registered jobseekers, while its Facebook job updates are viewed by thousands of lawyers and law students.

Another service, a resume search programme, is an active recruitment process through which employers can browse and search for candidates instead of waiting for them to apply. Search results can be filtered by criteria such as years of working experience, specialisation, position level and language proficiency.

He also runs a placement service which sources and screens suitable candidates for employers. Clients only pay upon successful placement.

“We provide free replacement of candidates if the candidate is found unsuitable for the employer’s needs,” he adds.

According to the Asia Law Portal (March 2015), Law is one of only three Malaysians who made the list of top 30 influencers within the Asia-Pacific legal industry.

Blog to follow

His eLawyer Law Blog Forum was also listed as one of the ’12 blogs in Asia to follow in 2015′, by John Grimley, the editor and publisher of Asia Law Portal.

Law said that among some of the manpower issues affecting the professions in Malaysia today are the the shortage of specialist lawyers, the challenge of managing Gen & staff, and the lack of coaching, mentoring and training for young lawyers.

At present, 95% or more of Malaysian law firms cater to the retail market, and less than 5% focus on the corporate market, which involves providing legal services to large corporations and high-net-worth individuals.

“Today, there are more than 6000 law firms in Malaysia, but less than 50 do work for the big corporations. This is because corporations go for big law firms, where they fell they can tap expertise, specialization, and experience. Thus, must corporate work is monopolised by a few large law firms an mid-sized boutique law firms.”

High demand

He noted that there is a high demand for specialists rather than general practitioners, especially in niche areas such as intellectual property, maritime law, and construction arbitration.

Another issue is the challenge of managing Gen-Y staff.

“These are mostly people below 30. They tend to emphasize fulfilment and satisfaction over money, and seek work-life balance, flexibility and autonomy at work.”

“Others seek instant gratification; they need bonuses more often than once a year. They are not willing to wait ten years for a partnership; they will jump ship if there is more money somewhere else.”

How does one attract and retain Gen-Y talent? What would help, says Law, is a lot of coaching and mentoring.

“Unlike the older generation who were left to their own devices, many of the young people I meet say they left their jobs because they did not have enough guidance.”

“Most law firms don’t realise the need for coaching, mentoring and engagement for young lawyers, and often don’t have the time or skills to do this. They are so involved in daily operations, productivity and output, billings and targets, that they often overlook human resource development. ”

“I met many young lawyers who leave because they do not know where they are going in their career.”

“When there is internal training, its mostly for technical skills. There is hardly any training budget, and if there is, the budge allocations are usually for partners. This is one reason why some young lawyers leave law firms and go on to become in-house corporate lawyers. They feel they have more opportunities to grow in larger commercial enterprises.”

He says that as young lawyers progress in their careers, many are expected to become leaders and people managers.

“Legal firms expect you to perform this role but they don’t imbibe you with people management and leadership skills.”

Law suggests that law firms should set aside budgets for training young lawyers in such skills.

“This problem is not confined to legal firms. It applies to SMEs in general, but in the Malaysian case, it is exacerbated by weaknesses in the education system.”

Founded by Asia Law Portal Editor and Publisher John Grimley, this portal serves the two predominant purposes of creating an atmosphere for everyone in the legal field and others to come across updates and information on all the economic opportunities available in the Asia-Pacific region, and for lawyers both inside and outside said region to contribute opportunities within their respective markets that they might know of and to proceed to raise them on this portal, in the capacity as contributors to Asia Law Portal.

In the article containing the list of the 30 people to look out for in the legal field in Asia-Pacific, penned down by John, we are proud to announce that three of them are Malaysians. They are Chew Seng Kok, Gaythri Raman, and Eddie Law. Chew Seng Kok is the Managing Director of Zico Holdings, Inc., Zicolaw being the biggest law firm in Malaysia. Gaythri Raman, Head of the Asia-Pacific Rule of Law & Emerging Markets initiative at LexisNexis, led the LexisNexis efforts to form the Myanmar civil law structures following market liberalisation. She is an author at the powerful Malaysian legal blog LoyarBurok as well. Also on the list was our very own Eddie Law, who is the founder of eLawyer.com.my and Publisher of eLawyer Law Blog Forum, this very blog you are reading from right now, that covers the law business in Malaysia.

Eddie started his career as private practitioner and thereafter he joined an IT company as legal counsel before founded elawyer.com.my. Currently, Eddie is the Managing Director of eLawyer Recruitment, a legal recruitment company which specialises in providing legal recruitment solutions to law firms and large corporations. Drawing from his experience as a private practitioner and later as an in-house lawyer, Eddie has successfully placed lawyers with various firms and corporations (both local and international).

Being nominated as one of the unique 30 individuals, Eddie said, “This is the best new year gift that I have received, at the beginning of 2015 itself. I feel pleasantly surprised and am humbled by being mentioned in the list of the ‘30 People to Watch in the Business of Law in Asia in 2015’. Such a recognition inspires and encourages me to do better in the coming years. I also want to dedicate the glories to God and share such honour with those who helped me along my eLawyer journey.”

Not only that, eLawyer Law Blog Forum was also listed as one of the ’12 Blogs in Asia to Follow in 2015’, per John Grimley of Asia Law Portal. This law blog forum “is one of the largest online legal community in Malaysia with more than 7,500 registered members and… [it]… attracts more than 500,000 hits on a monthly basis.” Visited by people in the legal field of all levels and ages, this forum provides important information about the legal world in Malaysia. The aim of the eLawyer Legal Blog is to create an online forum or platform to update and discuss about the news and trends in the Malaysian legal community. It also intends to create legal awareness amongst the public.

As mentioned in our previous post, eLawyer Recruitment was the co-organiser of the Legal Career Forum with KL Bar Pupils Committee (PC) and Young Lawyers Committee (YLC) which was held on 6th December 2014 at the Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium.

The purpose of the forum was to inform the participants of the legal career opportunities available by sharing views of lawyers from different practice areas.

More than 70 participants attended the forum and some commented that the forum provided them with valuable insights that would help them make better and informed decisions with regards to their career path, especially in the different areas of practice.

(Participants listening attentively)

Eddie gave a speech on the topic of how to succeed in one’s legal career and legal talent retention. In respect of a lawyer succeeding in his or her legal career, Eddie shared the principle of “SPM” (namely Strategy, Purpose & Mentor) to elaborate how a lawyer is able to succeed and be ahead than the rest in their legal career.

In respect of legal talent retention, Eddie began with identifying the underlying issues that cause legal talents to leave a law firm. He further went on to elaborate how by using the 3 Es (Engagement, Enable & Energize) as one of the main solutions to improve the situation.

During the forum, the participants were given a survey form to fill up. The survey concentrated mainly on the participants feedback with regards to their job satisfaction and their main influences in their career decision making process. Many seemed to favour relationships with bosses and colleagues and work life balance as the main factors in deciding whether to switch jobs. It was also interesting on how more of the junior participants stated the ‘lack of challenge in a job’ as one of the main reasons for them to leave their current job while the more senior participants favoured workplace relationship and work life balance.

After Eddie completed his speech, an interactive forum by the young and successful talented lawyers began.

The below panel of speakers have more than 10 years of practice in their respective area and were sharing their insights on the area of practices they are in:

There were 2 common traits among all the speakers which made them who they are today, which are: passion in what they do and perseverance while facing challenges in their career.

Under the moderation of Peter Ling, this session was highly interactive and each speaker tried their best to answer all the participants’ questions. We hope that this event helped to shed some light on the participants and that they inculcate the mindset of successful lawyers through such sharing.

THIS FORUM IS OPEN TO LAWYERS FROM ANY STATE AND PUPILS. LAW STUDENTS ARE WELCOME TO JOIN!

The KL Bar Pupils Committee and Young Lawyers Committee in collaboration with well-known legal recruitment and consultancy firm, eLawyerRecruitment are organising a Legal Career Forum.

This Forum is intended to benefit members of the Bar, pupils, students and law firms by sharing views of legal practitioners from different practice areas and seniority on the current demands of legal practice with focus on employers’ perspective on career opportunities and advancement.

The Forum is expected to address the relationship between employers and Generation Y employees and seeks to bridge the gap between them. Many talented practitioners are leaving their current employment to seek better opportunities, often outside legal practice. The Forum is intended to shed some light on the many reasons behind the loss of talent in the profession.

Lawyers in employment will benefit as the Forum will also cover the current requirements and credentials that employers look for in fresh practitioners and pupils. What does it taketo secure employment as a lawyer?; What is needed to succeed further?; What are the challenges that one might face in legal practice? These are some of the questions that will be answered at the Forum.The speakers will also share about the insight of respective area of practice and the prospect of such area of practice.

As for law firms, managing partners and HR executives are encouraged to attend to find out more about the demands of Generation Y practitioners and to increase the retention rate of lawyers at their respective firms.

This Forum will bring about a better understanding between employers and employees in legal practice. It is hoped that this will in turn create a better working relationship and result in an improvement in retaining talent in the legal profession.

This is also a great opportunity to meet prospective employers and employees and build network at the same time.

1. Lau Kee Sern, Partner in Shook Lin & Bok (called in 2000). His main area of practice is Banking & Finance and Corporate Litigation. He is a member of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Malaysia.

Eddie Law, Founder and Managing Director of eLawyer.com.my (called in 2003). He has both private practice and in-house experience before he ventured into legal recruitment 6 years ago. His clients include law firms (local & international) and corporations. Eddie is passionate and generous about sharing his thoughts and experience on legal career related issues with young and potential lawyers, giving insight views of the career path of a lawyer, inspiring lawyers to excel in their profession, harness their leadership skill and personal growth.

Moderator : Peter-Douglas Ling, Partner, Peter Ling & Co.

The registration fee for this Forum is RM10.00 per participant.

Light lunch refreshments will be served.

Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Please make payment by 26 November 2014 (Wednesday). Click here for the registration form. http://www.klbar.org.my/newsletter/file/06122014form.pdf

METHOD OF PAYMENT:

Payment is to be made at any Maybank via bank transfer, cash or cheque

Name of Account: Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee

Account No: 564315003715

Fax the bank in slip to 603-20321090 together with the Registration Form.

NOTE:

Registration is strictly on a first-come, first-served basis.

Confirmation is upon receipt of payment.

The Organisers reserve the right to postpone or cancel the Event, should circumstances arise that make such action necessary.

Fee paid is non-refundable unless the Event is cancelled by the Organisers. If a participant is unable to attend, a replacement participant is allowed

Should you have any queries, please e-mail Rajan (rajan@klbar.org.my) at the KL Bar Secretariat or call 03-20321440.

Thomas Philip offers four (4) internship awards to students enrolled in a full-time law degree course (or BPTC course) in the UK or in Australia / New Zealand. Award recipients will be offered a four-week Dispute Resolution internship with the firm in Malaysia.

The Thomas Philip Internship Programme was established in 2010 and has hosted over 120 law student interns from all over the world.

Who Can Apply:

Final year students of a full-time law degree course or the BPTC course at a recognized university in the UK.

Penultimate or final year students of a full-time law degree course at a recognised university in Australia or New Zealand.

Strong academic and co-curricular record with a 2:1 (or equivalent) average. Mooting experience is an advantage.

Application requirements may be found in the Thomas Philip Internship Booklet which may be downloaded at:

Register NOW!

Limited seats only!

At the beginning of a journey, we all have questions. It is no difference with the beginning of your legal career path. Making the right choices therefore becomes a very important decision to make at this stage of your life.

The questions: How do we decide on these options?

Let us answer your queries…

Topics include:

The overview of landscape of legal career market in Malaysia

Career options for lawyers/law graduates

Building your legal career path

Matching your personality with a suitable job

Who Should attend???

Law Students

Chambering Students

Fresh Law Graduates

Lawyers

CLP Graduates

Speakers:

Eddie Law founder of the eLawyer.com.my, he is a lawyer turned legal career adviser. He has both private practice and in-house experience. He has placed lawyers from pupil level to partner level in law firms and from legal executive level to legal counsel level with corporations. Eddie is passionate and generous about sharing his thoughts and experience on legal career related issues with young and potential lawyers, giving insight views of the career path of a lawyer, inspiring lawyers to excel in their profession, harness their leadership skill and personal growth.

Mel Tan has more than 15 years of lawyering experience she started her career as private practitioner with law firm and thereafter she assumed the role of legal counsel in both local and international financial institutions where she also overseeing compliance portfolio of the institutions.

On 18th of November 2013, Eddie Law, the founder of eLawyer was invited to have a talk on “Getting Ready for Your Career” at the law faculty of Taylor’s University. Eddie was sharing with them about the career options for a law graduates and also the effective cover-letter and CV writing skills.

From the response of the students, many presumed that the only career option for a law graduate is to be a practising lawyer. Hence, the talk was to unveil the misconception and to give law students an overview of the legal career market in Malaysia.

Having a well written cover letter and CV are the essential tools for a jobseeker to secure an interview. As the resume and cover letter speaks for the jobseeker himself, every minor detail could actually create different impression. Eddie, from him real life experience shared the useful tips to write a good resume and cover letter, not only the format but the content from the view as an employer. Eddie gave step by step guidance to the participants to guide them in cover letter and CV writing skill. Besides that, he had also pointed out the common mistakes that most jobseekers made in their resume.